How do Barkers and Scherrs compare in price? Based on what I read here the quality is excellent, but this is a price-sensitive renovation in a rental home.

I can't tell you exactly. Barkers is more than ikea. If you go to their website, you can price it out.

How about the off-the-shelf stock cabinets at HD or Lowe's? That's what we used in our last rental kitchen remodel and the current renters raved over the kitchen when they saw it. I would not use them in a high-end rental in a more upscale area but this is a rental in an area of modest homes so it works there. Prices are even cheaper than Ikea, IIRC, but you won't get all the neat organizational stuff inside unless you add it after-market which would then raise the total price a lot. We didn't add any as they are not necessary in this modest area.

My neighbor did stock Hickory cabinets from HD for their laundry room and they look great. They just don't have the bells and whistles and they are not frameless and they are not RTA - but they seem solid enough and if there's no customization needed, they can work.

There are cabinet lines out there that claim to compete with IKEA. In my experience so far, that has tended to mean lower quality for more money, though. What I have personally found was that outside of IKEA, quality frameless cabinets has meant being willing to up the price point. Right now, I'm looking at Omega, Dura Supreme and Barker for frameless cabinets. I've also looked at Belmont (They have a 1600 and a 1900 line, the 1600 being builder's grade) and some other lines that are hard to remember because I wasn't crazy about the quality.

Maybe look for kitchen surplus, surplus warehouses, building supply houses. Their selection can run more to plain options but I think the price can be good.

Oh, and look at Habitat Re-Stores. Although this might not work if you're in a hurry. Sometimes you only find a cabinet or two in the same style but we have seen entire kitchens worth of cabinets, sometimes large kitchens, that have been carefully removed and are good for re-use. Prices tend to be about $25-100 per cabinet. We bought 21", 4-drawer stacks with very nice drawer glides, that softly roll closed with just a slight tap of the finger, for $75 each. If you found the sizes you need in different styles, it would still be cheaper to purchase your cabinet boxes at the Re-Store and then just order new cabinet fronts.

I'd wait.

Get a quote from Conestoga

I got a quote from Barkers about a month ago and it was double Ikea prices. Also a 12 week lead time, if I recall correctly.

I ordered my Barker Cabinets mid-March and they are still being built, etc. The timeline they show on their website does not include any painting or the shipping timeframe, so that must be added on as well.

I've been looking at ReStore, etc., but since I bought granite on CL, my plan is now pretty much cast in stone. That, combined with my location, means quality kitchen cabs are rare.

Amber, I did just submit a request for a bid from the Cabinet Joint, I'm hoping that works. I could push the kitchen install to early July at the latest, but need it to be ready for tenants in August.

I met with a KD at HD yesterday, and while they can order Eurostyle cabinets, he has never seen them nor does he have access to layout software for them yet. I am still hoping someone on this forum has seen them!

Google "RTA Cabinets" and you will find tons of other companies out there that will be very competitively priced to Ikea. I also noticed the other day that HD has also launched (?) a line of RTA cabinets under their "Decorators" brand that look really attractive. As for quality....I'm one of those skeptics who doesn't think Ikea is all it's cracked up to be. Not drinking the kool aid, there. Spend some time in the store really looking at their displays and you will get my meaning. Plus their customer service for anything custom can be bad (not true for all areas, since they use local, ahem "talent"). Not to riff too much on Ikea, many people love them and they've certainly driven the market in rta furniture and that's a good thing, because it means that there are other companies that have upped their game in order to compete.

Costco?

All Wood RTAs from Costco are similar in price to Ikea. I recently did a price comparison between Costco RTAs and Ikea. You can read about it here. Barker Cabinets Thread

Anything price comparative to Ikea will be a questionable import product. Barker produces a fine product, but in the end, is priced only about 8-10% below that of ordering a fully assembled high quality line from a cabinet shop.

With short lead times, your choices on quality will suffer. There just isn't anything readily available that is going to be great quality and in stock for you to purchase. The in stock cabinets at Lowes come the nearest of being acceptable quality, but won't be what you're asking to find.

I find our Ikea generally has the cabinets in stock but often doesn't have the doors. Couldn't you install the boxes and however many drawers/shelves etc. you plan that are available and wait on the doors and drawer fronts and things not in stock?

I tried almost every configuration of 24" depth drawer base cabinets, none were available. I finally emailed Ikea customer service. This is the response I received. The product number was for my preferred configuration of base cabinet but I checked stock on almost every version of 24" depth drawer base cabinets and none showed as being in stock. Below is the response from Ikea customer service:

The 290.386.01 (this is a 24" wide 4 drawer/3 drawer front base cabinet) is currently out of stock in IKEA Tempe. As it turns out, we do not yet have an estimated time frame for when this item will be re-stocked due to delay in supply from our manufacturer.

I was just checking stock on the Ikea website. They have the cabinet boxes, but they are out of all the 18" maximera drawers and the medium 24" maximera drawers. Supposedly they are getting them in by the end of the month except for the medium 18" drawers, which they don't have a restock date for. Other than the sink and trash pullout all my base cabinets are 18 or 24" drawer bases :(

What about if you order online instead of getting then at the store?

out of stock, tried that and it will not allow you to put the item on backorder. I actually am not close to a store and will order online if the item ever becomes available.

Yep, what redkev said, sigh. This is the message for the 36" sink base: Sorry, this product is not for sale on our website or over the phone, check if it is available in your local store. Stock availability may not be accurate on IKEA Food items.

And of course the store is out of stock, too.

Ikea totally underestimated demand for their new kitchen line. Most people planning Ikea kitchens, knew more than a year ago that the Akurum line was going to be discontinued and they therefore held off ordering until Sektion became available. Ikea holding their annual kitchen sale right after introducing the new system just added to the pent-up demand for their kitchens. No wonder they're out of stock of so many parts. What a royal screw-up.

I guess I'm glad that we are still in the early planning phase of our kitchen remodel. By the time we'll have our plans and permits ready, Ikea's warehouses will likely be stocked again.

We are also doing an Ikea kitchen, but at this point will be happy just to get all the cabinet frames installed. Installing the drawers and doors etc will come later, depending both on availability and making up our minds about the configuration for each base cabinet.

This does mean that we won't have a fully functional kitchen for a few weeks, but that's OK. BTW, I do see plenty of stock for the 36" base cabinet frame (I'm close to the Palo Alto, Ca store). You can get the sink installed in the frame, and then install your choice of door fronts when they become available. Of course this means a 2 phase project - that's what we are doing because we plan to install the doors and drawer fronts ourselves. Installing/leveling the cabinet frames needs someone with prior Ikea kitchen experience, IMHO.

I'm in Maine, and the nearest store is Stoughton, MA, which has very little in stock. Unfortunately as my project is in a rental I am renovating, I can't opt for a 2 phase project. I'm looking at other RTA options right now.

My Barker cabs shipping took 30 days (from the time they left the factory), no joke.

WHAT?!! It took 30 days just for shipping? How long did the "processing" take?

I ordered the Eurostyle Geneva Sink Base from HD. The cabinet bases are a few points shy of IKEA's quality. The door themselves look beautiful, however the cabinet corners were damaged during shipping by UPS, so I am waiting for replacements. Still going to go with Eurostyle for the base and IKEA wall cabinets high gloss white on top. Also their room layout tool is nicer than IKEA's system - http://eurostyle.fabritec3d.com/

received my entire Ikea order for my office remodel on July 8th. Shipping was fast and relatively inexpensive as opposed to going to Denver or Tempe and renting a truck to bring the cabinets back to New Mexico.